Pages

1/26/14

Stopped By A Guy Who Didn't Shoot A Field Goal (Review: 36ers v Kings 26/1/14)

Sydney 105, Adelaide 93

In our game preview, I highlighted Adelaide's need to stop AJ Ogilvy. While the Kings team boasts plenty of guns, AJ has been a big thorn in Adelaide's side this year. Versus the Sixers he's averaged 20 points, 13.5 boards and 3 blocks. Today he didn't take a field goal yet still had massive impact.

With 3:24 left in the game and his team clinging to an 87-85 lead, Ogilvy blocked an Ervin drive to the rim. Anthony Petrie got the ball from Ervin and put up a shot that was also blocked by Ogilvy. He got off another attempt but this was was knocked off the ring by Ogilvy. The ball went down the other end and Ogilvy collected an offensive rebound and got fouled. He hit one of two to get his team out to 88-85.

Forty seconds later he made a great pass to Sam Young on a seal. Adam Gibson fouled him, leading to his fifth foul and the end of his day. On the inbounds play, Ben Madgen hit a 3 to get it out to 91-87. From there Ogilvy hit another 2 free throws, recorded another 2 blocks and pulled down a defensive rebound to secure a memorable win. AJ finished with 7 points (on 0/0 FG, 7/10 FT), 7 boards and 8 blocks. The points and boards were well down but the blocks were massive, with many of them coming at crucial stages down the stretch to again deny Adelaide.

The game started out with lots a fair bit of physicality and many body fouls being overlooked. Sam Young was super active and after a 2-2 start, the Kings flew out to a 9-2 lead. Foul trouble soon forced Adelaide to ring in the subs and eventually Adelaide settled on a Cadee/Ervin/Frye/Anthony/Johnson lineup that pulled it back from a 19-13 deficit to 19-17.

Sydney flew out of the gates early in the second before an Ervin basket had it back to Sydney 26-25. The Kings then went on another surge with former Sixer Brad Hill scoring inside before Kevin White, Sam Young and Ben Madgen all hit triples to see the Kings leading 37-25. In what was becoming a trend, the Sixers then went on their own run, led by imports Gary Ervin and Jarrid Frye. 7 from Ervin and 6 from Frye saw Adelaide get it back to 48-44 at the half. Ervin, Frye and DJ had all been good but Gibbo and Petrie, hampered by foul trouble, had been largely ineffective. For Adelaide to win, those two needed to step up and Adelaide needed one of Cadee,Creek or Schensch to step it up.

It remained tight in the third before consecutive baskets by Carmouche, Madgen and Young had Sydney back out by 10, 64-54. Adelaide called timeout and looked for answers but it came up empty with the Kings keeping the edge and leading 74-64 going into the fourth. Adelaide had started to find some run, highlighted by two dunks by Daniel Johnson and it needed more of the same if it was going to pull out an unlikely win.

The Sixers started the fourth with an unconventional lineup of Ervin/Frye/Anthony/Johnson/Schenscher. That lineup worked and before long Adelaide was back in it, trailing by two at 74-72. At the 7:24 mark, Wright took out Frye and Anthony for Petrie and Cadee. BJ had filled in well and Frye was playing his best ball for 2014 but despite their stellar play you could understand Wright going back to his proven fourth quarter performers. While the guys were valiant, AJ Ogilvy simply put up a "Closed" sign in the keyway and denied Adelaide a key road win.

The Kings played very well at both ends. Madgen was brilliant with 25 points (9/14 FG, 3/3 3PT), 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Tom Garlepp had 21 (5/9 FG) with 11 of those coming from the line. Sam Young continued his modified game style, scoring 21 (7/14 FG) with 4 boards and 4 assists. The Kings shot 54% from the field, 50% from range and 79% from the line. Their zone defense worked very well, with the only real leakage coming from some transition and interior defensive lapses.

Adelaide will be filthy it again gave up over 100 points and allowed an opponent to shoot 50%+ from all spots on the floor. Foul trouble meant Gibbo and Peach both played under 22 minutes and with Schensch unable to get into the game Adelaide was just too exposed inside. While the Kings only scored 20 in the paint, they did take 38 free throws, which shows how often Adelaide resorted to fouling.

Adelaide again will take out it's anger on Cairns at home next week while the Kings play two in a row against the struggling Breakers. With the Tigers beating Perth on Friday we now well and truly have a wide-open top 4.

PLAYER REVIEWS

Adam Gibson (17min, 3pts, 3 reb, 4 ast). After playing one of his best in Sixers blue last week he backed it up with one of his worst. Expect him to have a blinder next week.

Gary Ervin (38min, 24pts, 6reb, 6 ast). Just shaded by DJ but again struggled inside against Sydney's bigs. 18 of his 24 came from three-point land.

Jarrid Frye (22min, 13pts, 3 reb, 1 ast). Made some nice drives and looked to be more aggressive. Needs to relax on the threes (0/2, now 2/20 for the year).

Anthony Petrie (21min, 7pts, 7 reb, 3 ast). Battled hard against AJ but got in foul trouble early and never truly got into the game. Will look forward to this week's game.

Daniel Johnson (33min, 28pts, 8reb, 0 ast). Looked really good, showing his full offensive arsenal. Better effort on the boards and must build on this game against Cairns.

Jason Cadee (23min, 5pts, 1 reb, 1 ast). Made some useful late baskets but had his worst game in a while. Looked to be cruising a little too much.

Luke Schenscher (16min, 6pts, 2 reb, 1 ast). Missed some gimmes but hit 4/4 from the line. We needed a big game from him today and unfortunately Big Red couldn't come through.

BJ Anthony (15min, 5pts, 6 reb, 2 ast). Most minutes in a while and did well covering for Peach. Only got 1 foul!

Mitch Creek (11min, 2pts, 2 reb, 0 ast). Like Gibbo, backed up poorly from a big game last week. To get more minutes must improve consistency.